Lecture #6

Question 1

• Why is it beneficial to assess our aerobic fitness?

Answer 1

○ Establish a reference point
○ Help design exercise program
○ Determine effectiveness of exercise program
○ Motivation
○ Assessment isn’t just for performance purposes

Question 2

• Should only performance goal individuals consider assessing aerobic fitness? Explain.

Answer 2

○ No, there are many other reasons why everyone should assess aerobic fitness. For instance, it helps to motivate and gives a measure of the effectiveness of an exercise program.

Question 3

• What is the difference between direct and indirect assessment?

Answer 3

○ Direct is in a lab setting
§ Need to collect expiration air from individual
§ For research and high performance testing
§ Requires a maximal effort performance
○ Indirect
§ Relate oxygen consumption to work output
§ Field testing primarily
§ Useful for larger groups of individuals
§ Can be performed either as a max or a sub max effort.

Question 4

• How can a sub-max test provide information that can be used to predict your aerobic capacity?

Answer 4

○ Needs work rate (distance travelled, and time) and heart rate, to calculate your maximum oxygen consumption. But NEEDS the heart rate part.

Question 5

• What are the differences in protocols and data collected between a max and a sub-max test?

Answer 5

○ Max
§ Just needs distance travelled and time it took to travel
§ Individual MUST be working at max capacity
○ Sub max
§ Need distance travelled and time it took to travel to find work rate
§ Also needs heart rate
§ Must be done at a constant pace.

Question 6

• What is thought to be the primary influencing factor? Why?

Answer 6

○ Genetics
§ Certain individuals are gifted with lots of slow twitch aerobic muscle fiber, which results in a greater ability to work.
§ There are many other factors as well.

Question 7

• What are the main reasons why males have higher aerobic capacities than do females?

Answer 7

○ Men, per unit pound, have: 
			§ A larger blood volume
			§ Higher hemoglobin concentration
			§ Larger heart size
			§ Larger muscle mass

Question 8

• How much does training influence aerobic fitness?

Answer 8

○ Typically increases VO2 max about 20-35% on average.

○ It takes a poor third in terms of gender and genetics

Question 9

• How much impact does age have on aerobic fitness?

Answer 9

○ Not as much as people think
○ World records held by people from late teens to mid 30s
○ Any decline is more a sign of detraining than aging

Question 10

• What are basic considerations for an exercise program?

Answer 10

○ Current fitness level
		○ Desired outcome
		○ Time availability
		○ Enjoyment
		○ Access to facilities
		○ Expenses 
		○ Medical history

Question 11

• If activity is prescribed to benefit the cardiovascular system, what 3 things are needed in the activity?

Answer 11

○ Rhythmic activity
○ Large muscle groups
○ Extended time period

Question 12

• Why is heart rate reserve thought to be better for exercise prescription than % max. HR?

Answer 12

○ Correlates better with VO2 max. The percentage of maximum
Heart Rate gives too large numbers for VO2 max, which means that you could work yourself too hard to achieve your desired predicted VO2 max.

Question 13

• Using the heart rate reserve method, to determine the target heart rate for an intensity level of 75% for an individual your age, what other information is needed?

Answer 13

○ Resting heart rate

○ Max heart rate

Question 14

• What time ranges are generally prescribed? Why not longer (usually)?

Answer 14

○ 20-60 mins generally recommended. >60mins tends to be cause more injuries.